ACES ON BRIDGE

The Dutch juniors secured a berth in the knockout stages of the 2018 World Youth Bridge Team Championships with one match to go, where they met Israel, who were also sure of a place in the last eight. Early in the match, Dutch junior Michel Schols made a bid that deserved to find its way to the newspapers.

South’s two-spade overcall was highly imaginative and hugely productive — even if it might not carry a government seal of approval. South knew that his partner would not have the values to act after one no-trump, so if North-South had a contract, it would likely be in spades, and South would have to act at his first turn. The worst-case scenario would be to locate a 4-2 fit, but that was hardly likely, given East’s denial of a major and North’s failure to bid hearts. As it was, South caught a fit and was hauled all the way to game. West led an exotic spade 10 around to declarer’s king. Declarer had to set up the diamonds while he still had entries to his hand remaining. Knowing that West had diamond length, declarer played the diamond ace and diamond queen, covered with the diamond king and ruffed in dummy as the jack and nine fell from East, truly a sight for sore eyes. A spade to the ace was followed by the diamond eight for another ruffing finesse, covered and ruffed. When East refused to overruff, a heart to the king secured plus 650 for the Netherlands, which translated to a gain of 11 international match points.